Voters grabbed their pitchforks Tuesday night and came over the ramparts. The revolution has arrived. Republican primary voters Tuesday night in key contests in Delaware and New Hampshire and New York sent a clear message, in case anyone had missed it up until now: If you are part of the establishment, you better grab your goodies and get out of the castle while you can.

Tea Party upstart Christine O’Donnell upset Mike Castle in the Delaware GOP primary; her New Hampshire counterpart, Ovide Lamontagne, is leading his establishment foe in the Senate race there. Voters in both places voted with their hearts and not their heads, with passion more than pragmatism—as the losing candidates were considered far more likely to win the general election.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (the Establishment) has now backed eight losing candidates. In other words, this grass-roots anti-establishment wave actually threatens the GOP’s chances of taking control of the Senate.

The Daily Beast also offers a view from the left—namely from Matthew Yglesias—about what this means for Republicans:

Tuesday night’s primary results, especially in Delaware, highlight the fact that this hyper-mobilization of the far right is a double-edged sword that’s at least as likely to hurt the GOP as to help it….

More than a clash between conservatives and moderates, the O’Donnell surge and the endorsements from Sarah Palin and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint that powered it highlights a conflict inside the conservative movement between people looking to win elections and get things done and people who are mostly looking for attention. To Charles Krauthammer the O’Donnell endorsements are destructive, capricious, and irresponsible but realistically there’s likely little that’s capricious about it.

After all, who is Sarah Palin? An unpopular former governor. And who’s DeMint? Just some back-bench senator. Without picking these kinds of fights, they’re nobodies.

The Senate GOP, the odds against them for a Senate majority anyway, are seeking to use the recalcitrance of their conservative base to blame the base for not getting the majority.

(Senate GOP leaders) have seen their party’s chances of making major gains in the Senate threatened by their inability to push their preferred candidates through several GOP primaries
I’ve been around the block enough to know a line like that does not appear in a story without someone involved in the story pushing a narrative. In fact, we are seeing that across the board. The Senate GOP is intent on taking all the credit for all victories in November when, in fact, they opposed a significant number of the candidates who will be on the ballot in November.

What changed things was one event: Tea Party Express endorsed O’Donnell on August 31, just having poured hundreds of thousands of dollars, taken from sub-$5,000 donations solicited through email requests–into Alaska and knocking off incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whom the Washington political world had also deemed completely safe. After O’Donnell gained some momentum with that group’s backing, Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint endorsed her late last week. To be sure, the three TV ads run by Tea Party Express were the major difference in Delaware between August 31 and September 14.

After what will come out to be just over $250,000 of Tea Party Express spending in Delaware, the movement will have claimed another state, adding to the primary victories of Joe Miller in Alaska, Sharron Angle in Nevada, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Ken Buck in Colorado, and Mike Lee in Utah…

It’s a sign that a national donor base of conservative activists has tremendous power over the Republican Party and national political dynamics in general these days. No Republican appears to be safe from the ire of the Tea Party.

Comments (5 of 13)

Ms Odonnell- WE the People, the hard working, middle class people, do not, and never will, identify with the likes of you. You are political trash. Quit wasting our time. We the People need intelligent, realistic thinking individuals to lead our country- and you do not fit into any of those categories. Thanks, Delaware.

7:17 pm September 17, 2010

Jason wrote :

Looks like the "revolution" has begun- tea partiers will be goin down.....Delaware- You screwed up royally, but you have gotten the attention of concerned Republicans ,such as myself. They will not prevail in my state.

7:13 pm September 17, 2010

Carol wrote :

Excuse me, Ms ODonnell- In your acceptance speech the other night, you thanked "Govorner" palin- Oops! She QUIT that position several months ago in order to pursue a more lucrative career. Maybe you should keep up with current events, You betcha! Ps Fox news- Will you please give this odonnell chick the anchor job she wants before she ridicules our country even further? Also, I can't wait to read her resume- she is fair game now- and I want to know the truth.

5:33 pm September 17, 2010

trueblue wrote :

O'Donnell is grossly out of touch with the "current American drama" as is her sponsor palin- Neither of these women can even remotely be considered "Authentic Advocates" for the American people- I haven't heard one intelligent statement from either of them and believe me, I've been searching! This is NOT a high school election we are talking about here, folks- If this is all the Republican Party has to offer us in the way of change, God help us and protect us.

9:55 pm September 16, 2010

Mike wrote :

Oh yes, this "revolution" is going to be the destruction of the Republican party. Keep bringing on the airheads- No substance, no votes.

About Capital Journal

Capital Journal is WSJ.com’s unique site for analysis of the political and policy maneuvering in Washington in the era of Barack Obama. It features the Capital Journal columns and occasional other postings by executive Washington editor Gerald F. Seib, and will house Political Wisdom, the Journal’s daily aggregation of the smartest political analysis from around the Internet. Also look for regular columns by Peter Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute and occasional contributions from others.